


Punishment

by rushie



Category: Mad Max Series (Movies), Mad Max: Fury Road
Genre: Capable - Freeform, Cheedo the Fragile - Freeform, Female Friendships, Friendship, Furiosa - Freeform, Kidnapping, Mad Max - Freeform, Pre-Movie, The Dag - Freeform, The Splendid Angharad - Freeform, Toast the Knowing - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-05
Updated: 2015-06-05
Packaged: 2018-04-03 01:21:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4081078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rushie/pseuds/rushie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Furiosa had known that she would have to pay sooner or later. She and her mother had cut off her arm on the way to the Citadel. Her mother had died for it, and Furiosa’s arm had bled so much that she had been sure she would die, too. Perhaps that would have been a better fate. And anything would have been a better fate than eventually becoming Immortan Joe’s wife. But she’d survived, and Immortan Joe had thought that showed strength. So she’d been tossed in with the War Pups, an Imperator in the making, and left to wonder just when the punishment would come. And when Immortan Joe appeared before her one day and announced, “I need a new wife,” she knew it had finally come.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Punishment

Cheedo was the first.

Furiosa had known that she would have to pay sooner or later. She and her mother had cut off her arm on the way to the Citadel. Her mother had died for it, and Furiosa’s arm had bled so much that she had been sure she would die, too. Perhaps that would have been a better fate. And anything would have been a better fate than eventually becoming Immortan Joe’s wife. But she’d survived, and Immortan Joe had thought that showed strength. So she’d been tossed in with the War Pups, an Imperator in the making, and left to wonder just when the punishment would come. And when Immortan Joe appeared before her one day and announced, “I need a new wife,” she knew it had finally come.

Cheedo fought. She fought the hardest of the girls that Furiosa brought back, except maybe the Dag. She screamed and thrashed and it took all of Furiosa to hold her together, to shove her into the bag of her car and tie her up. Maybe she should have gagged the girl, too, but Furiosa let her scream. She felt like screaming, and letting the girl do it for her was almost as good as doing it herself.

 

\---

 

Toast was second.

She didn’t put up a fight, which Furiosa thought might have been worse. The girl just crammed herself as far away from Furiosa as the tiny cab would allow, knees tucked to her chest, glaring so fiercely Furiosa thought she might return to the Citadel and find a hole had been burned into the side of her face. Toast walked straight-backed and tight-lipped alongside Furiosa as she was led to the Wives’ vault. As the door swung open, Furiosa thought to say something—she wasn’t sure what, but there was a sick feeling her gut that she couldn’t shake. But when she turned to Toast, the young woman spat in her face and dashed inside the vault. By the time Furiosa had wiped her face clean, Toast had disappeared inside.

 

\---

 

She thought of running, more than a few times, whenever she was sent on a wife-finding excursion. But after the first time she failed to return, Immortan Joe sent Rictus with her, and it got harder and harder to slip away. She never made it far enough to make a difference. The war rig always caught up to her, dragged her home, and then shortly after she’d be forced to go out and hunt for another wife for their fearless leader. 

So she bided her time.

 

\---

 

Angharad was the third.

She was lovely, and she was resigned. She went quietly when Furiosa appeared at the door. They all knew what it meant to have Immortan Joe’s Imperator come knocking. She didn’t scream and kick like Cheedo, and she didn’t glare like Toast. She stared out the window and watched the only home she had ever known disappear in the dust. She didn’t try to talk, something that made Furiosa nervous but also something for which she was thankful. She felt sick, doing runs like this, and there was a hot feeling in the pit of her stomach. She thought of jamming the accelerator and trying to run again, taking this girl with her. But then she thought again of the failed attempts, of the other Wives waiting in the Vault, and she ground her teeth and set course for the Citadel. 

But when she walked Angharad to the door, when she’d spun the lock and gestured for the new Wife to climb inside, Furiosa couldn’t help it. She apologized.

“I’m sorry.”

The words felt like sandpaper in her throat. She cleared her throat but couldn’t bring herself to try again. She had felt that, of all of them so far, this was the girl who might understand best. Angharad didn’t say anything in reply. She didn’t scream. She didn’t spit. She just stood there, her eyes boring into Furiosa’s, until the Imperator closed the door and spun the lock.

\---

 

A few weeks later, Immortan Joe told Furiosa that the war rig was hers now. She’d be making her first supply run the next morning. Furiosa had nodded, said nothing, and had begun to plan.

 

\---

 

Capable came after Angharad.

She cried, which was almost worse than Cheedo’s fighting had been. Her sobs were huge and uncontrollable, and she was limp and soggy as Furiosa tried to drag her out to the war rig. Furiosa didn’t have the heart to tie her up after that; it was obvious the girl wasn’t going anywhere. So the Imperator left her to sniffle in the passenger seat of the war rig and started the long drive back to the Citadel. But Capable surprised her. After a moment, she pulled herself together, drew in a shaky breath, and spoke to her. It wasn’t to call her names or accuse her of every crime she could possibly think of. It was, in fact, something much harder for Furiosa to hear.

“I won’t hold this against you,” Capable said, and Furiosa swerved. As she got the rig back on track, Capable continued, “I can tell you don’t like doing this.” She peered at Furiosa in that way the latter would come to recognize—probing, but voicing her question in a way that sounded more like she was talking to herself. “What is he punishing you for? 

Angharad met them at the door when Furiosa opened it. Capable looked at her, then at Furiosa. She offered a sad, knowing smile to the Imperator, then turned and accepted her fate with a grace Furiosa didn’t think she could ever muster. She looked at Angharad. The Wife’s chin was held high, and there was a regal air about her. She met Furiosa’s eye. There was no malice there. Furiosa noticed bandages pressed to one side of Angharad’s head. A little blood had seeped through. Angharad saw her looking, raised her chin higher. Furiosa made to shut the door.

“It won’t help,” she said, and spun the lock.

 

\---

 

The Dag came shortly after Capable.

Furiosa had thought that Cheedo had fought her. She’d been wrong. The fight with the Dag was much, more worse. For starters, the Dag _bit_. 

She was a feral thing, and Furiosa could see the wild fear in the mother’s eyes when she came for the girl. It was only after the Dag leapt, yowling, onto Furiosa’s back that the Imperator realized the fear had been _for_ her, not _of_ her. While Furiosa was still trying to throw the girl off—the harness for her prosthetic was causing some difficulty—the Dag sank her teeth into the space where Furiosa’s neck met her shoulder. They both yelled, the Dag with blood on her teeth and Furiosa in a mixture of pain and rage. She slammed backwards into the wall once, twice, three times until the wild girl on her back fell off. She wasn’t supposed to hurt them, and so when the Dag reared up again, snarling, Furiosa did the only thing she could think of and barked. It startled the mother and the girl both, and it gave Furiosa just enough time to flip the girl over and tie her up. It took a couple of the War Boys to carry her out to the rig, and she watched with no small degree of amusement while the Dag fought them, even while bound.

“Eat schlangar,” she snarled as Furiosa got into the cab, and Furiosa rolled her eyes. The Dag ran out of cursing and steam by the time they return to the Citadel.

Angharad showed up at the door again, and Furiosa saw the other Wives in the back, away from the door, watching. Angharad took in the Dag’s bound appearance, looked at Furiosa with an eyebrow arched. Furiosa stared back, impassive. Angharad’s stomach was starting to grow. It’s not big, not yet, but it’s obvious that she’s pregnant, and Furiosa hid a grimace. At a wave from Angharad, Capable and Toast moved forward to guide the Dag into the Vault. The Dag turned around one last time to snarl at Furiosa, a snarl which the Imperator returned, apparently much to the Dag’s amusement. Angharad was still watching her when she turned away from the other girls, and Furiosa eyed her round stomach again.

Angharad’s eyes were full of question and defiance.

Furiosa clenched her jaw. “I have a plan.”

 

 


End file.
